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Jun. 11th, 2019 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. The problem with working on the computer with all the lights off, is I can't see the keyboard and occasionally hit the wrong keys.
Speaking of typing...
The Digital Generation Re-Discovers the Magic of Typewriters
I don't know, methinks the Digital Generation is a tad spoiled.
About two years ago, my father bought a type-writer. He wanted to write again and could not get the computer to work for him. So he thought the type-writer would work.
Mother: You're father bought a type-writer.
Me: How'd that go?
Mother: fine for a bit, but then he asked me where the delete button was.
Me: There isn't one.
Mother: That's what I told him. They don't come with delete buttons.
ME: The electric ones did have white out or delete buttons. I remember it would delete what you typed, not always effectively.
Mother: He went with the old style, the classics..
Me: Eh, that doesn't have one.
Mother: I know. We decided to give it your niece for her birthday.
Me: Uh, okay.
Mother: She asked for a typewriter. Her mother said no, it's too noisy. But I decided we could just give her ours.
Me: Why does she want a typewriter?
Mother: She's fascinated by them and thinks they are cool.
Me: So, you've decided to send it to her just to annoy my brother and sis-in-law? If so...more power to you.
Mother: No, we did ask first. They figure -- might as well, she'll get bored of it eventually.
She did. Her papers were not written on a typewriter. Yes, it seems cool, until you have to type a fifty page paper or a three hundred page novel on the stupid thing. Then not so much.
2. CDC advises not to eat rough cookie dough or batter
Or as a friend on Twitter aptly stated: "I laugh in the face of danger and have eaten more cookie dough than cookies..."
Honestly, the internet likes to scare us. For a while it was not to eat any salmon or tuna because you could get parasites, then it was not to drink from bottled water or consume, shampoo with, etc anything that was in plastic. (Sort of impossible considering that pretty much everything nowadays is wrapped in, bottled in, or made with plastic. I thought about it -- and realized all the water I consume is in plastic. Also all the shampoo I use is in plastic. Yet, somehow I'm still alive.)
We're in the age of too much information. Stop. Halt. Enough.
Of course I live in NYC, one of the information and media capitals of the world -- I'm inundated with it. When I retire -- I'm heading out to the boondocks and investing in a self-driving car. So what if my car costs more than my living quarters. Also living in a town that has access to Amtrack or a commuter railroad.
3. I'm loving this new mystery writer that I stumbled upon..Sujata Massey, who specializes in Asian mystery novels and historicals -- which are a rarity. Apparently she is a British/American writer, of German and Indian descent.
I picked up:
"The Salarymman's Wife" -- Rei Shimura mystery -- "Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does.) Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder."
India Gray - Historical Fiction Boxed Set -- a series of short stories set in India, Oxford, and Pakistan.
Both weren't that expensive. Am leery of buying anything for more than $7.99.
Yes, I'm jumping from romance to mystery at the moment, may pop over to fantasy soon.
Have decided to give Chidi Persepolis -- he's currently reading the graphic novel adaptation of "Kindred by Octavia Butler" -- I don't know. He's said he couldn't read the book due to the subject matter and I'm thinking wouldn't the graphic novel be worse? (It's one of the better time travel stories that I've read, mainly because it holds with the science of it. And is a psychological horror tale about slavery, and how slavery imprints our present. We will never escape the sins of the past, until we all atone and acknowledge and learn from them. It's interesting too -- because she finds out through it, that her existence is tied to the slavery. It and Beloved are the best two novels that I've read about slavery from a female perspective.)
Speaking of typing...
The Digital Generation Re-Discovers the Magic of Typewriters
I don't know, methinks the Digital Generation is a tad spoiled.
oklyn Flea. Credit Marcus Yam for The New York Times
EVEN by Brooklyn standards, it was a curious spectacle: a dozen mechanical contraptions sat on a white tablecloth, emitting occasional clacks and dings. Shoppers peered at the display, excited but hesitant, as if they’d stumbled upon a trove of strange inventions from a Jules Verne fantasy. Some snapped pictures with their iPhones.
“Can I touch it?” a young woman asked. Permission granted, she poked two buttons at once. The machine jammed. She recoiled as if it had bitten her.
“I’m in love with all of them,” said Louis Smith, 28, a lanky drummer from Williamsburg. Five minutes later, he had bought a dark blue 1968 Smith Corona Galaxie II for $150. “It’s about permanence, not being able to hit delete,” he explained. “You have to have some conviction in your thoughts. And that’s my whole philosophy of typewriters.”
Whether he knew it or not, Mr. Smith had joined a growing movement. Manual typewriters aren’t going gently into the good night of the digital era. The machines have been attracting fresh converts, many too young to be nostalgic for spooled ribbons, ink-smudged fingers and corrective fluid. And unlike the typists of yore, these folks aren’t clacking away in solitude.
They’re fetishizing old Underwoods, Smith Coronas and Remingtons, recognizing them as well designed, functional and beautiful machines, swapping them and showing them off to friends. At a series of events called “type-ins,” they’ve been gathering in bars and bookstores to flaunt a sort of post-digital style and gravitas, tapping out letters to send via snail mail and competing to see who can bang away the fastest.
About two years ago, my father bought a type-writer. He wanted to write again and could not get the computer to work for him. So he thought the type-writer would work.
Mother: You're father bought a type-writer.
Me: How'd that go?
Mother: fine for a bit, but then he asked me where the delete button was.
Me: There isn't one.
Mother: That's what I told him. They don't come with delete buttons.
ME: The electric ones did have white out or delete buttons. I remember it would delete what you typed, not always effectively.
Mother: He went with the old style, the classics..
Me: Eh, that doesn't have one.
Mother: I know. We decided to give it your niece for her birthday.
Me: Uh, okay.
Mother: She asked for a typewriter. Her mother said no, it's too noisy. But I decided we could just give her ours.
Me: Why does she want a typewriter?
Mother: She's fascinated by them and thinks they are cool.
Me: So, you've decided to send it to her just to annoy my brother and sis-in-law? If so...more power to you.
Mother: No, we did ask first. They figure -- might as well, she'll get bored of it eventually.
She did. Her papers were not written on a typewriter. Yes, it seems cool, until you have to type a fifty page paper or a three hundred page novel on the stupid thing. Then not so much.
2. CDC advises not to eat rough cookie dough or batter
Or as a friend on Twitter aptly stated: "I laugh in the face of danger and have eaten more cookie dough than cookies..."
Honestly, the internet likes to scare us. For a while it was not to eat any salmon or tuna because you could get parasites, then it was not to drink from bottled water or consume, shampoo with, etc anything that was in plastic. (Sort of impossible considering that pretty much everything nowadays is wrapped in, bottled in, or made with plastic. I thought about it -- and realized all the water I consume is in plastic. Also all the shampoo I use is in plastic. Yet, somehow I'm still alive.)
We're in the age of too much information. Stop. Halt. Enough.
Of course I live in NYC, one of the information and media capitals of the world -- I'm inundated with it. When I retire -- I'm heading out to the boondocks and investing in a self-driving car. So what if my car costs more than my living quarters. Also living in a town that has access to Amtrack or a commuter railroad.
3. I'm loving this new mystery writer that I stumbled upon..Sujata Massey, who specializes in Asian mystery novels and historicals -- which are a rarity. Apparently she is a British/American writer, of German and Indian descent.
I picked up:
"The Salarymman's Wife" -- Rei Shimura mystery -- "Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does.) Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder."
India Gray - Historical Fiction Boxed Set -- a series of short stories set in India, Oxford, and Pakistan.
Both weren't that expensive. Am leery of buying anything for more than $7.99.
Yes, I'm jumping from romance to mystery at the moment, may pop over to fantasy soon.
Have decided to give Chidi Persepolis -- he's currently reading the graphic novel adaptation of "Kindred by Octavia Butler" -- I don't know. He's said he couldn't read the book due to the subject matter and I'm thinking wouldn't the graphic novel be worse? (It's one of the better time travel stories that I've read, mainly because it holds with the science of it. And is a psychological horror tale about slavery, and how slavery imprints our present. We will never escape the sins of the past, until we all atone and acknowledge and learn from them. It's interesting too -- because she finds out through it, that her existence is tied to the slavery. It and Beloved are the best two novels that I've read about slavery from a female perspective.)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 04:44 pm (UTC)I fail to understand the fascination. I spent many years in front of typewriters, at work and off. I don't miss them. I remember the thrill of being able to type on Selectrics, they were so fast and they could erase up to a whole line of type. Of course, by then PCs were already an option but they weren't yet common in offices.
I'd forgotten about the noise. I recently watched the Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix where there were various comments about the annoying noisyness of constant typing. But yeah, compared to computer keyboards -- noisy.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 05:23 pm (UTC)The electric ones were quieter, but still really noisy. I remember my next-door neighbor in college hammering on my door and demanding I take the typewriter to the lounge and type the paper there. (This is the roommate who recently apologized for bullying me..) But it was noisy.
I was incredibly happy to move on to computers. My father was hilarious -- he was having spatial issues with the computer (rear brain Alztheimers), and though typewriter would work better -- but you can't delete easily. My niece was fascinated with it -- never seen one and wanted. Which makes no sense to me. But this is a child who got her first ipad when she was 6. And grew up watching television shows on an ipad. And has taken classes on robotics.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-13 03:18 am (UTC)You may be interested in getting yourself a backlit/illuminated keyboard. At home I've used the Logitech K800 for years. (the are plenty of other brands/models to choose)
I used to work overnight at home, and the letters on the keyboard will glow in the dark. Bright enough to read them, but not so bright as to be distracting. If you really do like working in the dark - it may be a good choice for you.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-13 04:38 pm (UTC)Thanks. Working off a lap top (MacBook Pro) so not sure will work. Keys used to light up, but I've had it for a while now...about two years, got it in 2017.